What I’ve Learned From Missing So Damn Many Deer

Misery loves company, so let’s begin here: You’re not alone. I’ve missed deer too. Plenty, actually. I missed the first deer I ever took a crack at. I also missed a big Ohio 8-pointer a decade ago. I missed an opening day Michigan buck just a few seasons ago. And I missed a couple more in between. Every one of these experiences was miserable, depressing, upsetting, disgusting. I know how you feel. But they each came with a silver lining. What I...

A Food Plot Lesson Learned – Take What You Can Get

By Paul Annear Food plotting can be a crapshoot. Timing, weather, and decisions on what to plant can bog down all prior plans of an excellent plot. During the past few years of creating food plots, I have had both major success and very disappointing failure on my main Wisconsin property. These experiences help you gain perspective on the difficulty of attempting to create food plots. I am lucky to have access to major equipment—but that in no...

What an American Hunter Learned from a Scottish Red Deer Cull

Jess Johnson touched down in Edinburgh at 1 a.m. on September 28, just in time for a hunt that was scheduled to start five hours later—on the other side of Scotland. Sleep wasn’t much of an option even if Jess had more time. She’d just spent five days in Hungary speaking about wolf policy in the American West at a symposium hosted by the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation, and she was too excited for this final leg of her...